tell me
by emilypaigecorcoran
Summary: rachel berry struggled to forgive her little sister after the death of their fathers, as they move in with their mother.
1. chapter 1

_rachel_ _berry was the current star of the glee club. (she didnt find shelby during theatricality) her little sister emily was starting her freshman year and was on the cheerios. emily was genius, starting high school at the age of 11. shelby corcoran was there to help teach the trouble tones at mckinley. she knew that rachel was her daughter, and so was emily. but she couldnt act until they did. but what she didnt know was that the berry men had died years before that, and she had legal rights to them..._

chapter 1

Emily berry stared at the sign up sheet in front of her and played with the bottom of her uniform. she couldnt help but feel nervous. coach sylvester would kill her if she signed up, but she wanted to. and she was determined to get in. she looked at the bottom of the trouble tones and signed it, Emily Elphie Berry.

Rachel shook her head as she entered glee practice. she didnt see her sister who had told her she signed up for glee. she also quickly realised that mercedes, santana, and brittany were missing too. she placed her books down and left to find her sister despite mr. shues disapproving glance.

Shelby Corcoran sat at the piano in her new classroom and waited for kids to show up. it was last period and she realised that another person had signed up in a childish script. what highschooler writes like that? shelby rolled her eyes looking back down at the name. emily. Her emily. suddenly she was very excited for this practice. she saw 2 cheerleaders , and from the looks of it a diva, walk in. she sighed. was emily always late? she started talking as she saw the young girl trying to creep in. then shelby realised, how was emily wmhs? she was 11. shelby continued talking as she sat down in a seat, wiping it before doing so. shelby thought of it as weird, but she didnt have the heart to ask why. the old coach Corcoran was gone, no more mean shelby. she couldnt keep her eyes off of her as the door shut again.

"what are you doing in here?" rachel hissed at the 4 girls. "we have glee."

"rach we're in glee." emily said standing up.

"really whos she?" rachel said defensively. that woman was no mr. schue. Shelby just stared at her. that was rachel. her little baby. and boy would that mouth get her in trouble.

"i dont know but she is helping us so please go away?" emily said quite nicely as rachel slammed the door. emily quickly wiped her chair and sat down again.

"midget you realise the chair isnt a jock strap its not bad for you. god youre so weird."mercedes hissed as emily rubbed the handsanitizer on her fingers, hands and wrists. when she was done, she looked up at shelby expectantly. only then did shelby see how young she truly is. the girl didnt understand what mercedes had said.

"okay. warm up time." shelby chuckled as she saw a light breath of air being let out of her lungs.

rachel sat outside on the bleachers watching her baby sister practice with the cheerios. she didnt like the fact that Emily was being tossed and thrown all over the place, but the girl had always loved it, so she hadn't really cared. when practice ended she stood up walking to emily. they would have to wait for Lindsay, their foster mom to pick them up. she was nice to the girls, very sarcastic but nice. she was young and let the girls be kids. except, they really couldnt. emily had changed after the fire. she blamed herself. she always left dirty random things or papers around the house for their fathers to find and one day left it too close to the stove. the girls hadnt been home, and after that emily was different. rachel had decided that she was gonna loathe her sister, and emily was seemingly spiralling downhill .

"rachie did you see that?"emily said excitedly.

"yeah i did. nice work"rachel said , still aggravated about earlier. they waited and waited, until rachel decided they would walk home. it was pretty late, but it would be fine. they were walking and as they passed a restaurant near the house they were living in, emilys stomach grumbled. she sighed and continued walking, maybe another day. once they got to the house, they realised that lindsays car was still there and another one was parked behind it. rachel didnt think much of it. she unlocked the door, closing it behind emily. she and emily walked to their shared room until they heard lindsay shouting something from her room. emily stood up to find her, wiping her foster mom's door knob before doing so. she quickly opened it to see lindsay with a weird stranger dude.

"what are you doing,?"the young girl asked cocking her head to the side. lindsay quickly covered herself.

"get out!"lindsay shouted grabbing her phone. she had been told that if she ever had a problem to call their birth mother. but somehow she had never wanted to. she would get in trouble. "hi are you shelby? "

 _"yes who is this."_

"lindsay, you can have your daughters, i cant handle them."

" _are they hurt, where are they_ shelby asked grabbing her car keys.

"theyre fine," lindsay said getting dressed and packing sone of their things. it wasnt alot but still, she should have it. "137 Livingston drive."she said hanging up.

shelby was fuming, but also bursting with joy when she pulled up to the house. she saw the two girls arguing in the front lawn. rachel was mad and pointing all over the place and emily looked upset.

"its your fault!" rachel yelled.

"no it isnt!"is all shelby heard before grabbing both girls wrists.

"both of you knock it off."shelby said sternly, glaring at the two girls.

"miss Corcoran let me go."emily whimpered starting to hyperventilate.

"emily honey breathe." shelby said as the girl started to pick up her breathing. shelby brought her in close to listen to her heart beat. "breathe. does she have an inhaler?"

"uh yeah here."rachel said, just as panicked. shelby shook it handing it to Emily. she took it but continued to cry into shelbys chest. rachel looked at the woman. she couldnt believe it. shelby Corcoran was her mother.

"rachel? whats wrong?" shelby said looking down at the shorter brunette.

"we have to go and its her fault. she killed our dads, and now she got us kicked out of lindsays. its not fair miss. corcoran. she ruins everything!"shelby swatted Rachel for that statement, seeing how it made her little sister so upset.

"rachel you are wrong. and she didnt get you kicked out, i wanted to have you back. what should've happened when your fathers past away. so rachel get that mouth in check."

"yes miss corcoran."

"now go grab your things." shelby said rubbing Rachel's arm.

"ok."rachel said slinking off defeated.

"miss corcoran, youre our mom?" emily asked playing with the ends of shelbys hair.

"yeah i am baby. and you can call me whatever you want ok? my names shelby, if you wanna call me that."

"ok."emily yawned rubbing her eyes.

"can i put you in the car while i help rachel, ok?"she asked when she felt emily become dead weight in her arms. she put her in the backseat and ran to help rachel with the few bags that were left. once they were done, shelby made sure rachel was secure in the car and started driving to her house on the other side of lima.

"so rachel tell me about yourself." shelby smiled when they stopped at a red light.

"im 16, i sing, well you know that, um i like barbra Streisand-"

"you too oh my god, which is your favorite from funny girl?"

"well mines stereotypical but dont rain on my parade is nice." rachel said looking back at her little sister in the back. "im warning you, i hope you have wipes at your house."

"why? shes not going to do that to everything right." shelby deadpanned. "my favorite is funny girl. favorite food?"

"um, maybe waffles, i dont know, i like peanut butter but i cant eat it."

"why not?"

"emily is allergic. its always emily, emily, emily and im sick of it! she got us in this mess, i dont get why im always dragged into it. if she hadnt been stupid this wouldnt have happened." rachel whined and shelby swatted the side of her leg. she could already tell that this child was never going to forgive her sister, and shelby knew that if the young girl was told she was the reason why hiram leroy died, she would soon come to despise herself. shelby knew the feeling all too well.

they pulled into the driveway and rachel sat looking in awe. it was a beautiful house. from what she could see it was 3 stories. shelby picked emily up and unlocked the door. "rachel come on" shelby whispered taking her up to the second story. "take your pick."the 3 rooms were identical and rachel picked the one next to the stair case. shelby decided that she wanted the younger of the two next to her, because she struck shelby as a nightmare person. but for that day, shelby didnt trust her in her own room. only then was shelby able to look truly at her daughters. rachel was tanner with big brown eyes and dark brown hair that all three of them shared. emily had shelby's green eyes and complexion but rachel was easily more like shelby personality wise. but shelby hadnt seen what Emily's true personality was so she couldnt judge. shelby truly didnt like the cheerleading uniform that emily was wearing, or the fact that she was thrown all over the place, but she knew it was a requirement but emily was not wearing skirts that short except for that if she could help it. Rachel's fashion choices were unfortunate, but they were appropriate. it was early september, so it was still hot, and skirts were fine. shelby couldnt help but feel nervous about the day ahead of them. a friday. shelby had heard of the slushie problem in the school, but she didnt think much about it . she drifted off to sleep until about 4 when she heard yelling and stomping but shelby heard a slap and shot right up.shelby raced down to see rachels room open and emily on the floor. it was obvious that these two would not be getting along anytime soon. "did you just hit her?"

"maybe." rachel smirked watching her mothers left hand start to twitch. her swatting hand rachel realised as she became quiet.

"emily go sit on the couch please." shelby said closing the door behind her. "rachel, you cannot hit anyone." when rachel rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, shelby decided she had heard enough. she quickly grabbed Rachel's wrist, swatting her 5 times. she didnt understand why she hated her sister. shelby personally loved _her_ sister, but she was always emily in this situation, no matter what. "rachel what you did was wrong. why did you hit her?" shelby asked, not leaving her grip on the girl.

"she woke me up. she was only in my room for me and i was so rude to her, im sorry." rachel whispered as she laid down on her bed, turning away from her mother.

"rachel im going to talk to her ok?" shelby said starting down the stairs into the living room to find emily crying with shelby's blanket in her arms. "hey lovebug can you talk to me?"shelby asked sitting next to her, pulling the sobbing child into her lap. she felt emily bury herself into her shoulder shaking her head no. Emily didnt want to talk. not anymore.

rachel ended up back asleep but emily stayed up, waiting for the day to start for her at 5:45. she promptly went up and changed into her uniform. she went downstairs to ask her mother if she had a curling iron. she couldnt find hers. "shelby? i need help."emily whined walking up to the woman. she truly was very short. shelby wasnt even that tall either. she was 5'4, and emily as at least 4 inches shorter.

"what do you need love bug?"

"can you do ny hair? lindsay always did it and i dont know how. " she mumbled,playing with the bottom of her skirt. shelby smiled.

"of course, come on." shelby said taking emilys hand. she felt the small girl flinch, but she didnt care. shelby sat the young girl in her vanity, plugging the curling iron in. emily was pretty, a mini shelby really. down to the barbra nose they all shared. shelby brushed and curled Emily's hair until it was perfect, spraying it with hairspray. "breakfast time come on."shelby said picking the girl up and swinging her around. all she could do was laugh when the young girl jumped on her back. "hey love bug can you tell me what you cant eat?"

"only peanuts."emily said shrugging, putting her socks on.

"do you want waffles?"

"rachel likes them so i guess so."emily said looking in the fridge for water.

"well waffles it is!"

"s-shelby? do i need to quit glee now?"

"no why would you quit?"

"mercedes is going to kill me if she finds out."

"emily. she wont i promise you. not if i can help it."

"you cant always help shelby."emily whispered slipping into a barstool as she watched her mother cook. emily studied her. ahe seemed nice, she was nice to her in glee too, but why had she given them up?


	2. chapter 2

chapter 2

Rachel stood in front of her mother as emily slept in the car. rachel was in a seemingly good mood, and shelby wanted to keep it that way. it had been 2 weeks since the pair moved in, and they were adjusting somewhat nicely. emily spent most nights in her mothers room. it always smelled like her mom. rachel had recently taken to calling shelby mom, and shelby wished to hear it from emily but it never came.

"earth to mom."rachel said waving her hand in front of her face. she was hungry, and her mom was staring into space. rachel had decided she wanted to go to this italian place in town for dinner. shelby was happy to oblige. she loved italian. shelby was shaken out of her daze. she was in the middle of thinking of what to do for Rachel's birthday seeing that it was in 2 weeks. she was turning 16 and wanted a party. it wouldnt be hard. just the glee kids. but shelby didnt really like the idea of leaving them alone. the treble tones had recently been disbanded and shelby was back to teaching at carmel, and according to rachel, emily and herself were hearing no end of hate from Mercedes. shelby knew something was bound to happen. mercedes was rude when she was still there! Emily was seeing a therapist, only because shelby thought it might help. she was diagnosed with OCD, which shelby embraced with open arms. it was only a label, it didnt change her. except when she went on meds. boy those were rough. shelby opened the backseat, seeing that the youngest daughter had fallen asleep. shelby had taken the calling emily her middle name, elphie. shelby was reminded of the day that their fathers had told her that. she had originated that role the year before she was pregnant with emily.

"elphie baby come on."shelby said unbuckling and lightly tickling her to wake her up.

"no shelby."she said rubbing her eyes.

"yes elphie, lets go."she said quickly picking her up before she could argue. she knew it would shut her up. the young girl was a sucker for anything when her mom held her. "welcome back to reality."shelby whispered fixing the young girl's hair.

"shelby i wanna go home."

"emily we are eating."shelby said slightly sterner putting the child down on the floor. this was not how she was wasting her friday night.

"why?"she whined stamping her foot.

"because I said so. "

"shelby!"emily whined again, latching onto the arm of shelbys blazer.

"Emily Elphaba i am in no mood for this."shelby said. she truly was exhausted and all she wanted was a calm friday night. "sit down. now. "shelby added plopping herself on the booth, bringing rachel in with her. emily sighed and sat down in the booth. she felt numb that day. she didnt even care that the booth she was sitting on had so much bacteria.

emily was silent until they left when in the car she decided to belt out defying gravity for the world to hear. it wasnt bad, shelby thought, silently critiquing a sharp note or two, but otherwise it was good.

"BRING ME DOWN...OHOHOHOHO."emily finished as she slowly fell asleep again.

"what the fuck emily?" rachel whispered incredulously looking at her sister. she felt a firm swat to her leg as she stared blankly at her mom.

"language."shelby said sternly wagging her finger at her eldest daughter.

"you were thinking the same thing. "she scoffed as he mother rolled her eyes .

"watch it."shelby scolded, internally laughing.

all 3 corcoran women pulled into the drive way, in their own little world. emily had since woken up, and rachel had fallen asleep.

"shelby?" emily asked as she slid down into the couch.

"yes lovebug?":

"i love you. "she said sweetly reaching her arms up for a hug.

"well i love More."shelby said kissing her nose. rachel had since left to hang out with quinn, so they were home alone.

"shelby?"

"mhmm."

"can we watch enchanted?"

"of course." shelby said realizing that emily looked nervous. "em what's wrong?"

"i-i wanted to know if i could call you momma. i mean you dont have to say yes if you dont want to because if-"emily said slowly backing away and running up to her room, and shelby quickly followed.

"elphie please, i would love for you to call me that. baby why would you think that i wouldn't want that? it's been my dream ."

"I've been holding back your dreams?" emily whispered looking down in shame.

"no emme baby listen to me out was my dream but my new dream is for you to succeed and be comfortable."shelby said shaking the little girl's shoulders.

"yes ma'am. i love you!"she said hopefully, looking up at the woman. "can you help me with my math, i know im a genius but i need your help." she really didnt need help, but she sorta just wanted to know her mom was there.

"sure baby, lets do it in the kitchen okay?"shelby asked as she twirled the little girl into her arms.

"yes ma'am. "

monday came and the two corcoran girls stepped into william McKinley high school. emily was dressed in her typical cheerios uniform and had her sister marching five steps in front of her because rachel insisted that she had a lively hood to uphold.

"hey midget, where's the troll? "mercedes sneered, stepping in front of the smaller girl and rachel kept walking.

"I'm not a midget! and Rachel's beautiful." emily said standing up on her tippy toes, trying to prove she wasnt a midget.

"of course not, you're just a tiny bitch!"mercedes said shoving the little girl. Quinn saw and stormed into the conversation.

"i dare you to call her that again! they're both better people then you will ever be."Quinn said glaring at the diva, getting in her face, and bringing santana in for backup.

"Oh look it's the big bitches looking after the midget!"mercedes said throwing her hands up in the air. a crowd was starting to gather, a crowd that included her sister. "awww look the midget's gonna cry, what are you gonna get your mother killed too? you ruin _everything_!" and on that note the older Corcoran charged at mercedes, punching her square in the nose, and grabbed the divas weave. rachel had enough of mercedes. she was nothing but inconsiderate to her sister and herself. she felt Quinn pulling her away so she decided to start kicking, to no avail. out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a flash of red and her sister fall to the ground. santana hit mercedes in the stomach before walking away with emily.

rachel and emily were sitting in principal figgins office when they heard quick clicking of heels. _'oh no,'_ both qirls thought as they heard the door slam. emily was slushied and her eyes stung and rachel had a scratch across her face. shelby thought both girls looked pitiful but it didn't mean they were getting out of punishment.

"what the hell did you do? a fight? really?"she then realized that her youngest daughters eyes were bloodshot as If she had been crying and it was only 9:30 am!

"mom we can explain!" rachel said sitting up straighter.

"we will at home, what is emily covered in? "shelby asked, scrunching her nose.

"slushie, it isn't all that bad, but my uniform needs to be cleaned. "emily whispered, playing with a coated end of her hair.

"fine, figgins what are their punishments, so we can get them clean."

"rachel has a 2 day suspension. emily is free to go."

"Oh so I'm in trouble for saving my sisters ass! ugh!"rachel huffed as she slumped back in the chair.

"car now. both of you. "shelby said pointing to the door. she was actually enjoying her day at school. it was first period and she sort of enjoyed teaching English. once in the car she quickly drove to their house. "one of you needs to explain. quickly. "shelby said crossing her arms.

"ask emily, she started it! "

"momma im sorry! i didn't mean it! "emily said rubbing her eyes.

"emily what happened. "shelby said sternly walking through the door.

"Well umm? she called me a midget and rachel a troll and i said that rachie is beautiful. she called me and quinnie and sannie bad words. uh she told me i was gonna kill you too, and that hurt. and rachel punched her for me, then mercedes threw a slushie in my face. do you know how many showers i need to take to get the scent of cherry off of me? "emily said stamping her feet and running up to the bathroom.

"rachel come here. let's get you cleaned up. "shelby said taking the teen into her arms.

"mom I'm sorry. "

shelby let a small breath of air out."you know there is consequences for this right? i said no fights. " she said taking out a bottle of peroxide and a bandaid, and cleaning Rachel's face.

"mom, emily really needs you right now, you know. what mercedes said did a number on her. " Rachel said Fixing the bangs on her face.

"i will when she decides she's clean enough. "shelby said taking one of her petite girls into her arms. she heard the shower shut off and the padding of feet across the second floor.shelby slowly made her into the preteen's room, knocking on the door.

"come in."emily said as she rubbed hand sanitizer into her skin.

"emme baby can you talk to me?"shepby asked and emily tensed.

"momma im sorry i dont wanna be bad! don't send me away momma, im sorry! it wasnt Rachel's fault. hit me and not her momma!" she swallowed."mommy i didn't mean it!" she let out in one breath, sobbing into her mother's chest.

"Emily I'm never going to hit you, or send you away. you did nothing wrong. you may have gotten in a fight, which i am not happy about, but you're not in enough trouble for a spanking do you understand me? "

"yes ma'am. " she said as she continued to cry to her mother.

"now then, are you okay? "

"honestly i dont want to talk momma."emily said turning her back to shelby. she slowly wrapped the girl in a blanket and rocked her back and forth. "momma why do i always get people in trouble?"emily asked as she sighed, breathing in shelby's scent.

"baby no one is in trouble, this isnt your fault. nothing that happened today changes the fact that you are eleven, a very pretty one at that, and you are talented, and i love you so much."

"but momma, i killed papa and daddy, got us in trouble at lindsays amd before at mr. richards, got rachel and mercedes in trouble, and soon im gonna get in trouble with you too momma. i dont want to make you mad and then rachel gets mad and then i get mad at rachel. it's just too much."she said. her tear ducts dried out and she was just blankly staringbat her wall.

"elphie, my little star, nothing that happened was your fault. and we meed to change your outlook on it. thinking you did all of that will weigh on your soul."

 _shelby was eleven years old and standing by the door of her parent's car. it was christmas eve, and they were heading to akron to meet up with family. shelby's older sister josie was in a fabulous mood, but shelby was in no mood to go._

 _"mom why cant we just stay home." shelby asked and her mother just rolled her eyes gripping the steering wheel tighter. out of nowhere, a truck came and hit the drivers side killing her mother, and leaving little shelby with a broken wrist. josie was twenty when that happened and had to look after her sister. it was never the same again._

"what do you mean. i was bad and i made you and rach mad. im sorry mommy."emily said, the tears starting to flow freely again. shelby just sighed. she knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere today. it wasnt even noon yet but shelby knew what had to be done. the three of them needed to bond. but the better question was how. shelby thought to her sister. maybe she could help.

"hey josie?" shelby said into her cell phone. josie and herself were close, and they always seemed to agree on things now that they were older. josie was shelby's mom for most of their lives. josie had another kid who was 5 named eloise. josie and shelby looked so much alike and sometimes it scared people. even though shelby put on that rough exterior, they were always able to handle eachother.

" _hey shelbs, nice for you to call your family for once."_ josie chuckled into the phone.

"ok i'll call more, just help me please."

 _"why what happened?"_

"my kids."

"im on my way."


End file.
